Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas! As many have been very eloquent in sharing the blessing & message o

f Christmas, I will pass on their wisdom and words. May you and yours be abundantly blessed this Christmas!

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. - Linus van Pelt

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr Seuss

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

Greatest man in History, Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master, had no degree, yet they called him Teacher, had no medicines, yet they called him Healer, had no army, yet kings feared him, won no military battles, yet he conquered the world, committed no crime, yet they crucified him...He was buried in a tomb, yet he lives today.

Great little One! whose all-embracing birth

Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth.

~Richard Crashaw

Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making. ~Leigh Hunt

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

DIY?

In the last week or so I’ve come to learn that home improvements here are not what one would expect. Here’s the story...

The Omondi’s have about 4 acres of property here. Currently it is used for: the gues

thouse, staff housing, main house, chicken houses, cow shed, greenhouse, garden, and some yard space. Daniel (their youngest son) is home for the Christmas break from University. He is the “master planner” for overhauling the property and making it more inviting to guests, as well as trying to make better use of the property itself.

That these plans were more than just “on paper” began just after Daniel arrived. Within a week the cow shed was gone, and piles of sand, rock, and other things started to arrive. As I write this there is a new roof on the office of the main house, a new walkway from the drive to the new house, a pile of rocks that are being “dressed” to become a wall to replace the wood fence in front of the guest house, fence posts in the guest house yard, and George is digging up grass to create a new entrance walk to the guest house from the driveway.

I’ve been most amazed by the stone mason. The lorry from the quarry :), dropped off a load of these big rectangular rocks. He has spent the last week, sitting on the pile with a hammer and chisel cutting the rocks to the shapes he needs to build the wall. Here’s the pile of rocks:

Here’s the “left-overs”:

Here’s what the wall will look like:

Kenya, and probably all of Africa, depends very much on manual labor for most everything. As I watch these artisans at work, very often I’m amazed at what they can accomplish. There are also times where I’m appalled at how “in-efficient” it can seem to my American sensibilities, but it is in those moments I remind myself that these “inefficiencies” mean job security for many.

So next time you see a road construction crew and hear the jack hammers, remember that it could be more people at work with pick-axes and shovels digging up the road. It may take longer, but more people are working